Time to level with you about government IT procurement

It's not overstating things to say that one of the biggest changes to government IT procurement in recent times has been the attempted levelling of the playing field. Sure, the field is not absolutely even today but compared to even a couple of years ago, SME technology companies now have a much improved chance of winning government contracts against the traditional monoliths such as BT or IBM.

The turning point was of course the G-Cloud framework (and the 'Cloud First' policy), with SMEs dominating the list of accredited suppliers as the government looked to ease procurement within the public sector whilst also leveraging the power of Cloud. But a sensible policy on paper has to translate on the ground and this is where the government can be patting itself on the back for a 'win, win' scenario.

First off, the SME wrap, with its agility, accountability, and genuinely accessible account management, is a world away from the faceless, buck-passing of the old enterprise order. And public sector organisations need this approach as it perfectly chimes with their own, as best value is continuously mandated into their operations.

But the real cherry on the top for government is that they want their money to add value to UK plc - to create jobs, to boost company investment, to drive financial performance. The monoliths will just absorb the pressure of a new contract, or maybe even offshore the work - SMEs, like Redcentric, will add to their headcount, spend on their UK infrastructure, develop more support resource, and quite a lot else that would delight any Business Secretary.

The success of the initiative is perfect proof that if you're good enough, you're big enough; that there is no risk in opting to contract with a smaller company, a lesser name. Indeed, Redcentric's infrastructure rivals the very best, with millions of pounds invested in recent years, including the development of one of the most advanced data centres in the country. It allows us to give a positive answer to the four key questions that should be asked of any Cloud services provider, within or outside of the G-Cloud framework:

Do you own and manage your infrastructure? End-to-end ownership ensures full control over services and standards

Do you offer stringent SLAs? A supplier with full confidence in their abilities will commit to tough metrics and penalties

Do you have a proven track record? Providers should be able to demonstrate credible long-term performance, backed up by case studies and references

The questions - and answers - are a useful guide to navigating the changing procurement landscape and making more informed supplier choices. Newly levelled playing fields encourage many more players - but they are not all evenly matched.